Longmont's McCaffrey wins Sunrise Stampede 2-mile

The start of the 2-mile race at Saturday's Sunrise Stampede in Longmont. (Lewis Geyer/Times-Call)

Longmont's Jenna McCaffrey is having quite a summer.

On Saturday morning, the 14-year-old McCaffrey won the women's 2-mile race at the Sunrise Stampede.

"It means a lot because I've been training a lot and I was kind of nervous for this," said McCaffrey, who will be a freshman at Niwot High School in the fall.

On May 27, McCaffrey finished second at the Bolder Boulder among the 356 14-year-old girls who ran the 10K course. On June 1, she was first among all the 13-and-over females at the Longmont Kids Only Triathlon.

Saturday was, perhaps, the biggest win of her young career. She finished in 13 minutes, 3 seconds, outlasting Firestone's Holly Hoguta (13:05) at the finish. Including male runners, McCaffery was 19th overall.

"Now I'm getting my stride back," she said. "I got a 6:30 mile, so I'm getting there. The first mile I felt like I was going kind of slow, but the last mile just went by really, really fast."

McCaffrey recently finished eighth grade at Altona Middle School, where she was a district champion in the 800 meters and 1,600 meters in track and field. In fact, her time of 5:58.31 in the 1,600 meters was the top middle school time in the state this year, according to co.milesplit.com. She ranked fifth in the state in the 800 (2:44.03), and eighth in the triple jump (29 feet, 5 inches).

McCaffrey said she is looking forward to several more races this summer. Then, she has a goal of making Niwot's varsity team in cross country in the fall.

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She's eager to run with and learn from Niwot current Niwot star Elise Cranny, the 2012 Class 4A state cross country champion.

"I just really want to go to Niwot so I can run with Elise, because I heard she's a really good person to train with and she's really encouraging," McCaffrey said.

WORTH THE DRIVE: Brian Glotzbach woke up early Saturday morning to drive from Castle Rock to Longmont for the Stampede. The effort paid off as he won the men's 2-mile race, crossing the line in 11:17.

"It was kind of a surprise today," the 38-year-old Metro State graduate said. "As I'm getting older, they get more difficult, so I wasn't really expecting that. I just wanted to come out and run a good time and let the chips fall where they may."

Glotzbach came in hoping to run 11:20 or better. Longmont's Colin Anderson was second in 11:23, while Jacob Anderson was third, in 11:28.

"I had those guys chasing me, so it definitely kept me from slowing down," Glotzbach.

Glotzbach said he has participated in the Sunrise Stampede almost every year in the past decade. The professionalism of the event and the low registration keeps him coming back, he said, because he likes to support events organized as well as this one. Of course, walking away with a win made this trip a little more enjoyable.

"Any time you can win, you'll travel as far as you need to do that," he said.

RUNNING FOR DALE: Several people crossed the finish line Saturday wearing orange bandanas with the words "Team Dale" printed on them. The group, about 15 strong, was running in memory of Dale Schwiesow, who passed away on March 6, 2012, in Longmont.

"It is in honor of my sister," Longmont's Mary McCool said. "She loved to do this race, so we just wanted to do it in her memory and this is the second year we've done it."

Schwiesow died suddenly of pneumonia last year at her Longmont home. Participating in this race is a great way to honor her memory, McCool said, because Schwiesow was a big supporter of local charity races, such as the Stampede.

The members of Team Dale. (Submitted photo.)

McCool said the group got the idea for the bandanas after seeing another group do something similar at the 2012 Stampede.

"This year we decided to have these made so that we'd be more visible," she said.

It was hard to miss the group, who proudly displayed their bandanas. In addition to McCool, three of Schwiesow's other sisters participated. Deb McKellips came in from South Dakota, while Bridget Miller and Shannon Flynn came in from Iowa. Another sister and two brothers were unable to make it. But, the group also included two of McCool's brothers-in-law and several of Schwiesow's former co-workers.

"It was great and it's been a very family-bonding thing," McCool said, adding that the group plans to make this an annual event for years to come. "It's been wonderful for us."

NOTABLE: Participation dropped once again this year, with only 685 racers completing the event, down from 800 in 2012. That's the lowest total in at least a decade. Of the 685, 242 completed the 10K course and 443 did the 2-mile course. The Stampede used to draw 1,100 or more on an annual basis, with 1,267 - the highest total from the past decade - participating in 2009. This, however, was the fourth consecutive year that the Stampeded failed to reach 1,000 participants. There were three wheelchair racers, all from Longmont: Jacob Heilveil, Dennis Gordon and Katja Stokley.

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